In three races in which he took part in the Northern Conference Majors, Michael Lewis, of Poway, California, captured the pole position and went on to win the race. That record was enough to secure him the Northern Conference title. His record was a reflection of the hard work his team put in throughout the year.

“It’s validation of the effort and hard work put in by me and the crew,” Lewis said. “We set a very high bar for ourselves every year and don’t always get there, but the effort is always total.

“I think the thing that made this championship special is that it’s about as far away from home as we could get! To be able to win running as a visitor on our competitors’ home tracks was definitely special.”

As a resident of California, one of the toughest things for Lewis was the travel done in order to make it to races in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

“As an amateur team we face the same challenges most do,” Lewis said. “My crew is voluntary and I have a business to run, so getting away to the races is always tough. I’d say particularly this year as we participated in a wide range of races in the Eastern United States while we are based in Southern California. The car was gone all year, and still hasn’t returned. So, maintenance had to be squeezed in either before or after race weekends and that prolonged the time away.”

For Lewis, the focus this year was to have fun. With that in mind, a Majors Conference title was not really in mind until the end of the season.

“We actually didn’t start out the year with any designs on a conference championship because we were doing races all over,” Lewis said. “We were hitting tracks we either hadn’t been to for years or had never been to at all. Once the season started to wind down, we noticed much to our surprise that we were in with a chance to win the Northern Conference even though we had done just a few races. At that point, we added one race and it all worked out. Totally unexpected.”

With all the points in the record book, Lewis made sure to thank a couple important people.

“Goodyear tires was a key partner with their support all year,” Lewis said. “I also want to thank my longtime crew chief, Joe Geldert, and Mike Gaglione. They were there every weekend and Tom Irwin helped keep the car looking good. Last, but not least, I want to thank my wife Peggy for her infinite patience.”